Search: Davender Ghai cremation
A Hindu man is taking his legal battle for the right to be cremated on a traditional open-air funeral pyre to the Court of Appeal.
Spiritual healer Davender Ghai, 71, who believes that a pyre is essential to "a good death" and the release of his spirit into the afterlife, was refused permission to be cremated according to his Hindu beliefs by Newcastle City Council.
Mr Ghai, from Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, lost his challenge at the High Court in London in May last year when Mr Justice Cranston ruled that pyres were prohibited by law and this was "justified".
But the judge gave Mr Ghai permission to appeal and this case is due to be heard before a panel of three judges headed by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger.
Mr Ghai, the founder of the Anglo-Asian Friendship Society (AAFS), seeks a permit for an open-air cremation site in a remote part of Northumberland. He wants a declaration that "natural cremation" is not unlawful under the Cremation Act 1902 and should be permitted under the religious freedoms protected by the Human Rights Act.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission intervened to support Mr Ghai's case.
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In a statement, Mr Ghai said: "I want to clarify and enforce the law, not disrespect it. If natural cremations can be performed with absolute safety and consideration for others, then quite simply, why shouldn't they be allowed?
"Of course, this is a sensitive issue and I have tried to present my case in the most dignified and respectful way I can. I understand some people feel uneasy about faith minorities asking for special rights but I am not trying to be divisive or offend anyone.
"I am the first to insist that natural cremations should be performed with absolute safety, respect and privacy. I have tried to live with dignity my entire life, now I now yearn to die and be cremated with dignity too.
"I want my soul to arise from the flames like the mythical phoenix, not be incinerated in an industrial furnace."
